As a Christian, I believe in representing Jesus Christ in my marketplace-the part of the world where I have influence. Influence causes decisions to be made, causing turns in direction, resulting in destinies being changed. With so much focus on what we say, how about considering this often-overlooked, yet crucial way to witness to those around us: our writing?. That's right, our writing. Whether it be in a letter, email, post-it note, thank-you card, or other writing, how we write often speaks louder than our content.
If you've ever sent an email, how often have you gotten in a hurry to communicate, only to discover after you hit "Send" that you misspelled and/or misused one or more words. For instance, the word "it's" is short for "it is." Most folks get this right. Substituting "it's" for "its", however is a no no., because "its", as in "everything in its place", is one word-not a contraction of two. Spell check can't catch everything.
Our work is our witness in many ways; therefore our work should include grammatically correct written communication. Ensuring our letters, emails, and notes are works of grammatical accuracy is one visible means of demonstrating excellence in our lives. In today's world, where mediocrity is too often the new excellence, real excellence garners real attention. Attention that may result in an opportunity to plant a verbal seed of Truth into someone's life. Can I get a witness?
What do you think? How important is having good verbal and written communication skills in your marketplace, in your sphere of influence?